WSAN, AM 1470, has annnounced that it will be broadcasting all Steelers games in the coming NFL season.

The station is calling itself the home of champions considering all Phillies games are also on AM 1470, the Fox.

I guess there's some merit to the claim. After all, the Phillies have two world titles since they began in 1883, both coming since 1980. The Steelers have won six since they began as a franchise in 1933, all since 1975.

Eric Chase, program director, told me that there will be pregame and postgame coverage of all 16 Steelers games and the playoffs, with the exception of the Super Bowl.

Acknowledging the Steelers strong support here in the Lehigh Valley, and really, throughout the country, Chase is pleased that the Whitehall-based Clear Channel station will have Steelers coverage.

When there's a conflict with the Phillies, as is the case with the Steelers-Ravens season opener on Sept. 11, the Steelers will be shifted to WZZO, 95.1 FM.

"The powers that be over here just thought it was time for true championship football to have a radio home in the Lehigh Valley," Chase said. "We are 100% certain that the Steelers are rightful holders to the title of America's Team. So now every week Steelers and pro football fans in the Valley can tune into the Fox for Tunch Ilkin and Bill Hargrove calling all the championship action."

It's just a shame Myron Cope, Mr. Terrible Towel himself, is no longer around to work the games. The gravel-voiced Cope, a Pittsburgh legend, died in 2008.

Looks like the pipeline that ran from Allentown to Faith Christian in Sellersville is over.

Starting in the 1990s with the very talented Danny Hargrove, who went on to play at UNC-Greensboro and East Stroudsburg University, many Allentown kids began attending and playing basketball at the small Christian school about a 35-minute drive from the city.

As recently as last year, several Allentown kids played for the Lions.

But I was informed that Tyler Rockmore, a junior guard, who helped Faith Christian go 21-6 last year and reach the District One Class A finals and the state tournament, will be attending William Allen this year and will compete for a roster spot and playing time on Doug Snyder's baskeball team.

The Canaries graduated four starters, including guards Branden Harrington and Robert Rodriguez, from its District 11 4A championship team.

Tyler lives in Allentown. He is the son of Wall2Wall Urban Youth Network founder and director Chuck Rockmore, who runs the popular Wall2Wall Adult Mid-Summer Basketball Classic at Allentown's Roosevelt Park every July.

Rockmore, who had 33 3-pointers last season and averaged in double digits, played with Faith throughout the summer. The team went 7-7 in the Stellar Cedar Beach Summer League,

Allen also had a solid summer, reaching the finals of the SportsFest tournament and the semifinals of the Stellar Summer League before losing to Freedom.

I learned of this a while ago, but because of vacation and other things, I haven't had chance to get it confirmed until tonight.

Salisbury boys basketball coach Jason Weaver has confirmed that Lloyd Irons will be back in action next basketball season for the defending District 11 2A champs.

Irons was a junior academically at Salisbury last year but was thought to be out of athletic eligibility after the 2010-11 school year.

But someone did their homework and went back and looked at his past record and discovered that Irons did have a year of eligibility left.

Irons' acacdemic record is a bit murky since he moved from New York City to Philadelphia and then transferred to Salisbury Township to live with his brother and his wife.

Irons turns 19 in November but the PIAA bylaws say that's ok. To be eligible to participate, you must not be 19 before on June 30 preceding the school year.

Salisbury presented a case to the District 11 committee and earlier this month the district declared him eligible to play in the coming 2011-12 season.

That's a big plus for the Falcons who graduated eight seniors from their 19-7 team that went to the Colonial League finals, won the district title and then gave Prep Charter all it wanted in the first round of the PIAA 2A state tournament.

"We’re extremely happy that Lloyd will be able to play with us next season,” W eaver said. “He came on strong for us at the end of last season and has continued to work hard through the spring and summer. He had a good AAU season and played well for us in the Cedar Beach league and in the summer tournaments."

While Salisbury learned that it will have a standout player on its roster, we've also learned that two other Colonial League members have lost quality players.

Tyler Kohl, Notre Dame's outstanding freshman a year ago, has reportedly transferred to Perkiomen Prep and Justin Festa, one of Southern Lehigh's top players a year ago, has transferred to Faith Christian in Sellersville.

At the height of the storm on Saturday night, I got an e-mail from former Northern Lehigh coach Jim Tkach who told me he was bunkering down in his new home in Milford, Del. -- not too far from Rehoboth Beach.

All went well we've since learned.

Jim and his wife Sandi moved from Slatington to Delaware in the spring to be closer to their daughter, Tristan, and their first grandchild.

Well, the grandchild, Cooper Bo Brannan, made its arrival on Thursday, Aug. 25 at 4:10 a.m.

The baby and entire family are doing great.

Jim is on his brother, Mike's, coaching staff at Milford High School.

Jim said: "Football is going well. A bit of an adjustment. Things in the Valley are much more intense and focused than it is here."

He said he has already made some great relationships with the players at Milford, which is not a surprise.

"Like any other young person, they want attention and discipline," Jim said.

On another note, Tkach said the Bo Tkach Foundation continues to grow and prosper.

"I have been up to speak twice in the last two weeks, but the six-hour round trip doesn't leave us too much time to visit," Jim said.

The Panther Valley – Lehighton game is being dedicated to the Bo Tkach Foundation on Thursday Sept 15 and the Northern Lehigh–Northwestern game in Slatington on Oct. 14 will be a night to honor both the Bo Tkach Foundation and the Tackle ALS organIzation of Brett Snyder, the former Northwestern and Lehigh University star.

Accoring to Mike Feifel's new book on the history of Colonial League football, Jim ranks fourth on the all-time list of Colonial League coaching leaders with a record of 90-30 in 12 seasons at Northern Lehigh (1994-05).

That does not include Jim's two years at Northern Lehigh 1992-93 when the Bulldogs were in the Cenntennial League (they were a combined 3-19) and it also does not include his three seasons at Palmerton (1979-81) when the Blue Bombers were also in the Centennial League and went 8-20-4.

Put it all together and Jim coached at Northern Lehigh and Palmerton for a combined 17 seasons, going 101-69-4.

That's the name of the book that Southern Lehigh assistant football coach and Lehighton Times-News writer Mike Feifel has produced. Actually, the complete title is "RISE TO PROMINENCE: History of Colonial League Football in the Lehigh Valley."

We wrote about this last year, but the project is totally finished and available for purchase.

This is a terrific book -- a must for any Lehigh Valley football fan -- chock full of stats, facts and figures.

This 210-page book features every score of every game ever played in this league which began in the 1975-76 school year.

As you thumb through the pages you realize that the Colonial League is a better league than most people give it credit for.

For example, Catty's Jonathan Linton, seen at the right as a member of the Buffalo, ran for 4,149 yards and 64 touchdowns in his spectacular career that spanned 1989-92.

As Feifel said as a guest on our Saturday morning "Calling All Sports" radio show, it shouldn't be compared to the East Penn Conference or the Lehigh Valley Conference because the schools are smaller.

Yet, the league has produced four state finalists since 2001 and has had teams play in seven Eastern finals.

This book answers so many questions.

For example:

1. Who's the winningest coach in league history?

2. Which two teams combined for the highest-scoring game in league history?

3. What was the lowest scoring game in league history?

4. What was the longest unbeaten streak against another league member?

5. Which was the most successful member of the original nine?

6. Who's been the best since the 1994 merger?

7. Which are the only three programs not to have won a league title?

8. Which was the most successful program of the 2000s?

The answers:

1. Paul Farnan (at right).

2. Northern Lehigh 68, Salisbury 27 in 2010

3. Pen Argyl 3, Bangor 2 in 1976

4. Bangor over Palisades, 25-0-0

5. Nazareth 117-34-1.

6. Northern Lehigh 126-44

7. Notre Dame, Salisbury and Southern Lehigh

8. Northern Lehigh 79-21.

I don't want to give anything else away, but this is just a sampling of the information that's in this book.

Again, just tremendous if you care about the league and Lehigh Valley-area football.

Mike, who is actually a Central Catholic graduate, can be very proud of his work.

I hope he is rewarded with a lot of sales.

To purchase this record book, go to clfootballhistory.weebly.com

We hope to have Mike on a future edition of The Morning Call's "Calling All Sports" TV show.

While August 27, 2011 may go down as one of the worst weather days ever on the East Coast, it will also be remembered by at least some local sports fans as the date that Catasauqua High graduate Anthony Recker collected his first big-league hit.

Recker singled to left to start the fifth inning in Game 2 of the Oakland-Boston twin bill at Fenway Park. Boston swept both games 9-3 and 4-0.

Recker finished the night 1-for-3, and 1-for-7 in his big-league career. He had one of three Oakland hits in the game, collecting his hit off Boston's lefty starter Erik Bedard.

Recker, batting ninth in the Oakland order, flew out to center in his first at-bat against Bedard and then again flew to center while facing reliever Alfredo Aceves in the seventh.

At least Recker, who struck out three times in his debut against the Yankees, did not strike out.

Oakland is now 3-3 since Recker joined the team on Tuesday in New York. The A's continue their road trip with a three-game series in Cleveland starting on Monday night.

Anthony Recker was kind enough to call me late Friday night and fill me in on what it felt like to make his major league debut in Thursday's wild Yankees 22-9 win over his Oakland Athletics in New York.

The 22 runs was the most the Yankees scored since 2000 and New York hit a major-league record three grand slams.

Recker was the catcher for the entire ballgame and had to endure 21 New York hits and 13 walks issued by Oakland pitching. He worked with six different A's pitchers.

"It was a day I will never forget," he said. "It was an awesome feeling to get my first start in the big leagues and it was exciting to get out to a 7-1 lead. Unfortunately, it couldn't continue. We won the first two games of the series and were happy to be up 7-1, but that's just a tough offense to keep holding down. I just wish I could have contributed offensively."

Recker went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a walk. He put the ball in play in the ninth inning, hitting a grounder to Jorge Posada -- yes, longtime Yankee catcher Jorge Posada -- who made a bizarre throw to first baseman Nick Swisher, who made a nice play for the final out. It was not your typical 4-3 in the scorebook, but nothing was typical about this game.

"It was a little tough going against five different pitchers, a different one every time I came up," Recker said. "But again, that's baseball and something you have to adjust to."

Recker said Oakland tried its best to hold the Yankees down, but "they just got rolling and we couldn't stop them."

He said he was familiar with the six pitchers manager Bob Melvin used.

"I knew what they had," he said. "I've caught them before. I felt like I knew what to say and how to handle them. It was just a tough day, but it's all part of the experience."

Oakland, happily flew to Boston on Thursday night and the A's thumped the Bosox 15-5 on Friday night in the first game of another three-game seriest.

"You just have to roll with the punches in this game; every day is different," Recker said.

He said it had been a crazy week, but was settling down.

"I am getting more and more comfortable every day," Recker said. "It has been an awesome experience. The guys have been great and very helpful to me. They have gone out of their way to make sure everything is going well and I am fitting in. I am a lot more confident."

Recker said those who may have pitied him for being on the losing end of a 22-9 score in his first major league game were missing the point. The point is he was just playing in a major league game.

"It was still an awesome experience," he said. "Sure, I wish I had done better and we had won the game, but just to be playing was amazing. Now, I can't wait to get out there and play again."

Recker will get another chance in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday. The Oakland-Boston series, like several other sporting events, has been impacted by Hurricane Irene. Sunday's scheduled game was shifted to Saturday. The games are scheduled for 1 and 5 p.m. and Recker will likely start the second game.

"They tell you when you're going to start so that you can get yourself mentally prepared," he said.

Recker said the team having to deal with the hurricane was par for the course.

"It has been a wild week, but you just can't let anything bother you," he said.

No matter what has happened this week, Recker said he has received considerable support from his family and friends back home in the Lehigh Valley.

"They have been texting me and calling me all week and they have been very supportive," Recker said. "They keep telling me to stay upbeat and not get down.

"Believe me, I am having a great time. I was playing at Yankee Stadium and now I'm going to play at Fenway Park, one of the two classic ballparks in this country. It would have been great to get my start anywhere, but to have it happen at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, who could ask for anything more?"

Not only has now Hurricane Irene postponed the Saturday night Phillies-Marlins game, but it has also scrambled Fox's national TV coverage plans. The Mets-Braves game in New York was supposed to be the featured game, but now Philadelphia and New York-area viewers (not to mention Lehigh Valley cable subscribers) will get the less than scrintillating Detroit-Minnesota matchup at 4. That matchup is only attractive because Justin Verlander is going for his 20th win of the season, and perhaps Phillies fans can view it as an opportunity to scout Detroit, a potential World Series opponent.

Here's the release from Fox on who's getting what.after the postponement of the Mets-Braves game.

SATURDAY’S BRAVES/METS GAME POSTPONED

REVISED FOX BASEBALL GAME OF THE WEEK REGIONAL BREAKDOWN

Due to the anticipated impact of Hurricane Irene, Saturday's Braves/Mets game in New York will not be part of tomorrow's FOX Saturday Baseball schedule. The game was postponed by the Mets this afternoon and will not be part of FOX's 4:00 PM ET broadcast window.

Markets that had been assigned to Braves/Mets have been reassigned to one of FOX's three remaining games: Detroit-Minnesota, Colorado-LA Dodgers or Pittsburgh-St. Louis. The MLB on FOX pregame shows now originates from Target Field in Minneapolis.

Verlander Goes for 20th Win on the FOX SATURDAY GAME OF THE WEEK at 4:00 PM ET

Tigers/Twins – Pirates/Cardinals – Rockies/Dodgers

FOX SATURDAY BASEBALL GAME OF THE WEEK FOCUSES NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT ON VERLANDER – For the 2011 season, one pitcher has been a head and shoulders above the rest. The Tigers’ Justin Verlander has amassed a 19-5 record while leading all of baseball in IP, K, wins and ranks third in ERA. The Detroit right-hander is scheduled to take the mound on Saturday, Aug. 27 (4:00 PM ET) as the Tigers take on the Twins. Two more enticing matchups round out FOX Sports’ Saturday slate. In St. Louis, Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman and the Cardinals look to close the gap on the Brewers in the NL Central as they meet the Pirates. Also, the Rockies take on the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

The MLB on FOX pregame show originates live from the Target Field in Minneapolis with host Chris Rose.

I know he won the first year of the football version of Groller/Zambelli Challenge and I think I won last year, and frankly I have no recollection of how our baketball contests have gone.

But somehow I always feel like Mike's a winner and I am just, well, a Groller.

In our family, we always talk about a Groller Curse. The premise is that what can go wrong will go wrong.

I think I threw Mother Nature a curveball this week. This is typically the week I go to Ocean City, Maryland, for one last summer vacation. But because I went on my "Ultimate Road Trip" through the Midwest last week, I switched things around this summer and went to OCMD back at the end of June.

Mother Nature must not have gotten the memo about my vacation change and that's why she's sending maybe one of the worst hurricanes of all time barreling toward the East Coast.

The way it looks, had I been at Ocean City like normal, I would have lost at least one full day of my planned vacation and been scurrying back home by now and stuck in one major traffic jam.

Anyway, back to the Groller-Zambelli Challenge. It's returning next week with the start of a new high school football season. Look for details in the sports section early in the week, probably Tuesday.

Readers will again invited to participate weekly with a nice prize going to the winner. The best 8 out of 10 weeks count.

As a courtesy to Groller's Corner readers, here's a sneak peek at the Week 1 games that will be in the contest: Remember that once everything is up and set, go to www.mcall.com/varsity to sign up and play.

Driving back from New York City late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, my car radio produced a surprise.

Flipping through the radio dials, I stopped for a moment on New York's WFAN, AM 660, and quickly heard a familiar voice.

It was that of Meredith Marakovits, the Northampton native and Central Catholic High School grad.

The former CCHS volleyball and basketball standout is now doing the overnight reports for WFAN, one of the country's most prominent sports-talk stations, among about a dozen other things she's doing in both New York and Philly.

She's one busy lady, and said she's having trouble picking a city as her home.

More on Meredith in my "Finetuning" column in Friday's sports section.

Anthony Recker's major league debut was definitely memorable, but for all the wrong reasons for his Oakland Athletics team.

The A's squandered a 7-1 lead and were on the losing end of a 22-9 decision as the Yankees swatted a record three grand slams in one game.

Recker, the 2001 Catasauqua High grad called up earlier this week from Sacramento, was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a walk.

Recker batted eighth in the A's order as Oakland closed out its three-game series in the Bronx.

Recker struck out swinging against the Yankees Phil Hughes in his first-ever MLB plate appearance in the top of the second, and then walked against reliever Cory Wade when the Athletics struck for five runs in the top of the third.

He then struck out swinging against Hector Noesi, another Yankees reliever, in the fifth and fanned against Boone Logan in the top of the seventh.

He made the last out of the game, putting the ball in play with a grounder to second against Luis Ayala, the Yankees fifth pitcher of the game and the fifth different pitcher Recker faced.

Recker was hitting .287 with 61 runs scored, 24 doubles, 16 home runs and 48 RBIs at Triple-A Sacramento. He was chosen to the Pacific Coast League all-star team.

Recker, at the very least, might be a good luck charm since Oakland has taken the first two games of the three-game series in the Bronx.

After this series, Oakland moves on to Boston for a three-game set beginning Friday night.

It was fun to be at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night for Anthony Recker's first night in the big leagues.

Amazingly, with all of the buzz the earthquake created, there were no traffic issues getting in or out of the Bronx.

No, Recker didn't play, but he was there, and in uniform, and it was kind of neat to document this first night for him.

I have a feeling he'll play in a game here before the Athletics move on to Boston. Maybe Thursday afternoon's series closer. Maybe more Catty people will be here by then. This one was kind of short notice. I know his former baseball coach, Tim Hurd, will be at Wednesday night's game.

I am hoping he gets a chance to show what he can do and makes the most of his opportunity. Quality catchers continue to be in short supply in the big leagues.

I was also at Yankee Stadium --- well at the ballpark bearing the same name that used to be across the street -- back on May 27, 1991 (Memorial Day, if I remember it) when Pat Kelly made his home debut for the Yankees. Can't believe that was 20 years ago.

What I remember about that day was interviewing Don Mattingly about Kelly and also that the garage my car was parked in got locked up before I got to it and I had to go back to the stadium and get security to open it up for me.

Let's just say the Mattingly interview (a humble guy considering he was the biggest thing in pinstripes at the time) along with my interview with then Yankee interview Stump Merrill, were more pleasant than getting my car out of that closed-up garage.

I won't get into my feelings about Kelly, who actually didn't want to talk to me that day (he did, however). Instead, he wanted one of his personal friends to handle all of The Morning Call's stories on him, and wasn't thrilled that I was the one there to document his Yankee Stadium debut.

Let's just say that I really think Anthony Recker is a good kid, who appreciates where he came from and went out of his way to say how proud he is to represent Catasasuqua and the Lehigh Valley. He's already talking about wanting to be a good role-model for the kids back home.

And Catty, for being such a small community, can be proud of having another kid go on to play in professional sports joining Kelly, Jonathan Linton, and of course, the great Larry Miller. Mike Bundra was before my time but he obviously made his mark at USC and in the NFL.

There's something in the water up there that makes kids shine. Catty's tradition in sports can hold its own with any other local community, even much larger communities like Allentown.

And, once you're a Catty kid, you're always a Catty kid, so it seems. Recker acknowleged all of the support he was feeling back home.

Within minutes of learning about his callup on Monday, I heard from at least five people who wanted to share the good news. And once they found out I was going on Tuesday, those same people were in constant touch wondering how Anthony was doing.

I even e-mailed a few photos of Anthony back for them (like this one below)

Recker has the right demeanor to make it in the big leagues. He respects the game, but is not in awe of it.

That's the blue-collar approach that Catty instills in people.

This was my first time in the Yankee Stadium press box since the night the Yankees beat the Phillies in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series. Despite New York's loss to Recker's Athletics tonight, I think we could possibly see the same matchup again in about seven weeks.

Another NY-Philly World Series would be fun, but even if it happens, I might remember this night just as long.

Archbishop Wood, the virtual all-star team with the six Division I recruits, will be seen on nationwide television on Labor Day weekend.

These Vikings, largely regarded as the No. 1 obstacle to Central Catholic repeating as PIAA 3A champs, will open up their season against PIAA 4A power Pittsburgh Central Catholic at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 4 in a game to be televised by ESPN2.

The game will be played at Gateway High School in Monroeville.

Central Catholic people have been talking about Wood throughout the winter, spring and summer because the Warminster, Bucks County school may have the most talented roster ever assembled in recent PIAA football history.

It's hard to rememeber another team that had six D-I recruits on the roster at one time. Maybe Berwick or Central Bucks West back in their heyday, but this Wood team -- on paper -- may be as good as any team the state has ever seen.

It's no wonder that when USA Today came out with its national rankings last week, Archbishop Wood was ranked fourth in the East and Allentown Central was ranked fifth.

But what irks people is that two top-notch kids, one from George Washington and another from Hatboro-Horsham, have come over to Wood.

And you wonder why there's a constant outcry about going to separate PIAA tournaments for public and private schools, although in this day of almost complete free-agency for high school athletes, the public schools seem to get as many good kids coming their way as anybody.

In addition to the talented personnel, Mike Carey, who was a key coach on Mike Pettine's staff at CB West and later replaced Pettine, is the defensive coordinator. And Carey has probably spent the entire off-season coming up with ways to defend a CCHS offense that embarrassed his guys to the tune of 49 points and over 600 yards of offense in last year's state semis.

Fortunately for the Lehigh Valley's Central Catholic team, a meeting with Wood wouldn't happen until Dec. 9 and a lot can happen between now and then.

Nothing official yet from the Oakland Athletics, but we've heard from several people this morning that Catasauqua High graduate Anthony Recker has been told he will be promoted to the A's big-league club and will be in New York City on Tuesday when the A's face the New York Yankees.

That's a 7:05 p.m. game in the Bronx.

The 6-foot-2, 240-pound catcher, who will turn 28 a week from today, was hitting .287 with 61 runs scored, 24 doubles, 16 home runs and 48 RBIs at Triple-A Sacramento. He was chosen to the Pacific Coast League all-star team last month and played in the Triple-A All-Star Game.

In three Triple-A seasons, spanning 257 games, Recker was hitting .279 with 38 home runs and 135 RBIs.

The right-handed hitter was taken in the 18th round by the A's in the 2005 amateur draft after a storied career at Alvernia College.

As a senior at Alvernia in 2005, Recker hit .461 in 47 games with 31 extra-base hits, including 16 home runs. He drove in 62 runs and scored 50.

Word began to spread Sunday morning throughout the local sports community about the passing of longtime area football and basketball official Pat Garramone and the news was greeted with much sadness.

Pat's funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, at Good Shepherd Church, 87 S. Hunter Highway, Drums. A viewing will precede the funeral, beginning at 10 a.m. Burial will be at Most Precious Blood Cemetery, Hazleton.

"Pat was just a great guy, great for high school sports," said longtime Allen public address announcer and scorekeeper Ron "Punkin" Miller. "What he may have lacked in mechanics, he made up for with his personality and charisma. You don't see officials today with the same charisma that Pat had. You knew when Pat walked into the building that the game that night would be under control.

"He loved high school sports. He loved working with kids and young officials."

Frank D'Angelo, who like Garramone, is from Hazleton, called Pat's passing "the end of an officiating era."

"He was from the era when officials had complete control of the game," D'Angelo said. "Pat was respected by the coaches and players and revered by his fellow officials. He was a mentor, not only to me, but also to many younger officials who were just getting started in their careers in the Lehigh Valley. Pat used good common sense whether he was on the field or on the court. He knew how to manage student-athletes exceptionally well. The same for coaches. He provided lessons we could all learn from. He was truly an icon."

Jim Haney said: "He took me and a lot of guys under his wing and guided us through the travails of officiating. He's one of the officiating veterans who got me going in this profession and helped to get me where I am at today. Pat was the one who got me into football. He said 'We need guys like you wearing the white hat.' Without his encouragement and support, I never would have gotten into football officiating."

Haney said Garramone was from the area of officiating greats in District 11 that included legendary figures wuch as Hal Grossman, Curt Steigerwalt and Steve Honzo. "It was a special era," he said.

It is with sadness that I have just learned that Pat Garramone, one of truly iconic people in Lehigh Valley sports for more than 50 years, has died.

I learned this sad news from a family member.

Pat was 83, but had officiated area football and basketball into his 70s and still cast a strong, commanding presence on either the gridiron or court until the day he took off his striped shirt for the last time.

Suffice to say, he was as well-known in local sports as any coach or player.

A former Liberty High football coach, Garramone was respected by players, coaches, administrators and his fellow officials.

He was truly one of the unique and most distinguished officials we've had in local football and basketball, ever.

He worked too many championship games in both sports to count and was admired by the likes of Milo Sewards, Stan Sutphen, John Donmoyer and many others.

In a 1993 Morning Call story, local baseball coach and former football and basketball official Terry Stoudt said of Garramone: "He's a legend, as far as I'm concerned. He's in a class by himself. He's always had the respect of the coaches, no matter if it's football or basketball. And he always has helped the young officials. He's one of the greatest friends I've ever had."

In that same 1993 story, Sewards said: "I thought he was a terrific official.I would give him every game I possibly could give him. He was straight from the heart; he would let the kids play."

Garramone told me that he truly loved working with young people, and that was the main reason he stayed in athletics as long as he did.

Again from that 1993 story, he said: "You don't want to take the game away from the kids. You have to develop good judgement. Don't look for every little thing. You want to let the kids play, but you have to stay in control of the game."

And that summed up his approach in a nutshell.

Prior to his career in officiating, Garramone was an outstanding football player at both Hazleton High and in college at Auburn and the Scranton University.

He was also a respected teacher and a coach.

Here's just a part of his impressive resume:

1945 -- graduated from Hazleton High School; was captain of the football team; had 26 tackles in one game.

1945 -- recruited to University of Auburn (Ga.) for football; started as a freshman at age 17.

1946-48 -- served in the Navy during World War II.

1948-50 -- attended University of Scranton; graduated in 1950.

1949 -- officiated first high school basketball game.

1950 -- assistant football coach at the University of Scranton; officiated first high school football game.

1951-52 -- head football coach at Mt. Carmel High School.

1953-54 -- co-coach with Steve Van Buren of Bristol Saints, a semi-pro football team affliated with Philadelphia Eagles.

1955-57 -- head football coach at Trenton High School.

1958 -- began 34-year teaching career at Liberty High School.

1958-66 -- head football coach at Liberty.

1959 -- officiated first East Penn League high school basketball game.

I have been asked that question about a dozen times in the past year and now, thanks to Lehigh supporter Joe Klosek, I have an answer.

The two-time Lehigh/Lafayette Game MVP is now at Truman State in Kirksville, Missouri.

It's a Division II school.

Clark is competing for a starting position after making a favorable first impression with a 67-yard touchdown pass in Truman State's spring game.

This time last year Clark was engaged in a heated battle for the starting quarterback position at Lehigh, a battle he lost to Chris Lum.

Clark then left the Lehigh program.

In interviews since his departure, Clark said his erratic 2009 season, in which he was benched in favor of Lum for several games, stemmed from a fractured sternum suffered in a Week 2 loss at Villanova.

Clark said the injury was re-aggravated by a hit he took in the 2010 Brown and White spring game.

Those injuries were never revealed during his time at Lehigh.

He searched for an opportunity where he could compete for a starting job and found one at Truman State, which plays in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Truman State has a second-year head coach in Gregg Nesbitt and is coming off a 4-7 season.

In 2010, Lehigh went 10-3, won the Patriot League and advanced to the second round of the FCS playoffs.

The Mountain Hawks enter the season ranked No. 13 in the country in the Sports Network/Fathead.com national poll.

Lehigh opens its season on Sept. 3 at Monmouth.

Truman State opens its season on Sept.1 against Northwest Missouri State.

The "Ultimate Road Trip" with the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club is over.

After a trip that covered 2,350 miles and nine days, I was back in the Lehigh Valley at 10:30 Friday night.

As my son said: "I never thought I'd say this dad, but seeing a sign for Allentown never looked so good."

The last two days were long days --- from Kansas City to Indianapolis on Thursday and then from Indy back to the LV on Friday -- with only stops to eat to break up the trip.

And we did eat good -- an Olive Garden in Ohio and a Hoss's in Western Pa., near Pittsburgh.

I will pay one last tribute to the trip, and the people who made it special, later.

But it is back to work this Saturday morning and I will be on the "Calling All Sports" radio show this morning from 9-11 a.m. on AM1470, the Fox.

Guests will include Nick Fierro talking Eagles, Steve Miller talking LVC football and several members of the Allentown Patriots oldtimers softball team talking about our special game to benefit the American Red Cross on Sunday, Aug. 28 at Patriots Park.

If you're unable to listen to a radio, you can listen online at fox1470.com.

And if you miss the show, live, you can catch a replay by going to fox1470.com website and type in “Podcasting” in the keyword.

To participate, call 610-432-5767. Hopefully, we'll get in a few trivia questions.

We left Kansas City on Thursday morning and began the long -- and I do mean long -- ride home.

The "Ultimate Road Trip" is nearing its conclusion. And I think we're all fatigued.

Ok, some of us can at least keep our eyes open, unlike the legendary Carl Breininger at the Yankees- Royals game on Wednesday night (see photo above).

But yes, it has been a very busy, wonderful, but tiring trip filled with memories that I will never forget.

Now's the tough part. Going home.

Sadly for me, we left Missouri and made our way through Illinois and into Indiana today.

I took a picture (left) from the bus as we crossed the Mississippi River one last time.

We ate at a Cracker Barrel near St. Louis where I was able to pick up one last copy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to read about my favorite teams.

And, I got to meet one more nice person, a waitress, who thought I was a rose among the thorns -- a Cardinal fan in the middle of about 36 or so Yankee fans. She got an extra buck from me for a tip at a Cracker Barrel on I-70 just north of St. Louis just for giving me a pat on the back for rooting for the Cardinals.

We wound up this day in a hotel near Indianapolis where we stopped at a Steak 'n Shake (great burgers). This seems to be a midwestern chain. I wish they'd come to eastern Pennsylvania.

As you can see, I am not losing any weight on this trip and today was not one for trimming down since we basically were on a bus all day and only took breaks to eat. My son Chris and I did get in a short swim at the hotel pool before they closed at the end of the night, but that was about it for exercise.

With one day left on this great trip, it's time to start looking back.

I hate to say this, but I think everybody on this trip had a much more favorable opinion of Kansas City than St. Louis on this trip.

Now, the Yankee fans did get to see their favorite team in KC unlike the other stops where they had no rooting interest. And I think our seat locations for the three games in KC were much more desirable than in St. Louis.

However, I do have to agree with them that KC went the extra mile to please. When we did our Kauffman Stadium tour on Wednesday, a tour guide (left) even got into uniform to recite "Casey at the bat."

The KC and Cincy tours were more impressive than the one in St. Louis for one big reason -- Cincy and KC had impressive Hall of Fame displays and the Cardinals did not. Very disappointing.

Evidently, when the old Busch Stadium closed down, so did the Cardinals Hall of Fame. There are plans to open up another Hall of Fame in the planned, but often delayed, Ballpark Village complex in St. Louis which would be adjacent to the stadium. That future plan did us no good on this trip, however.

Plus, the Reds gave everybody on the tour a Johnny Bench bobblehead and the Royals gave everyone a baseball cap.

The Cardinals gave nothing.

Perhaps they're saving every penny to re-sign Albert Pujols.

Before the KC tour, we were standing on the bricks outside the ballpark entrance and one member of our party spotted a brick for Coopersburg's very own Jim Schaffer.

Jim was the bullpen coach for the 1985 championship team an is still a fixture at Limeport Stadium and a great guy. He loved KC and I bet they loved him, too.

After touring three ballparks, it was nice to tour a football stadium and we got a great inside look at Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday as well. It holds about 76,000 people and unlike the Royals, my bet is that the Chiefs draw well.

It's a big, bright colorful stadium with yet another Hall of Fame. And when you went into that Hall of Fame you remembered all of the great defensive players the Chiefs have had over the years -- Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Emmitt Thomas, Derrick Thomas, Bobby Bell, etc.

When you go through all of these stadiums, and we toured four on this trip, you got a chance to see how the other half lives. We got to see some very elaborate, plush suites in each venue that go for much more money than I can afford.

Of course, we also saw four press boxes and I think everybody on the tour thought that where we work in the media is a pretty cool place as well and we get paid to be there rather than selling out thousands of dollars for the privilege.

The Chiefs tour, like the one of Kauffman Stadium, was tiring, but very worthwhile. Outside late Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt welcomes people to his stadium while looking over at Kauffman (see picture). That's also a diagram of the famous "65 Toss Power Trap" play that won Super Bowl IV for the Chiefs back in 1970 in the pavement behind the Hunt statue.

I like the fact that the Chiefs recognize the high school state champs in both Missouri and Kansas with nice displays (see photo below) on the concourse level

As we close out the KC portion of this trip, here are some images from the Arrowhead Stadium tour:

Still on the "Ultimate Road Trip" with the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Clun and we completed our three-game visit to Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday night.

I have to say I was sorry to go.

I don't know when I will be back here, but I would like to return at some point.

I will remain a St. Louis fan, first and foremost, but I came to really like this place on the western edge of Missouri as well, even if just seeing images of that 1985 World Series (see trophy below) still gets my blood pressure soaring.

I really grew comfortable with Kauffman Stadium and came to love the food (especially the barbeque they use on everything), the carnival-like atmosphere, the fountains, the gigantic HD scoreboard, the family-friendly nature of the place ... everything.

It's a shame that the folks out here don't support this team better. That has a lot to do with the fact that the Royals have been bad for a long time.

The crowds the last three nights were all in the 20,000 to 25,000 range and that's with the Yankees providing at least half of those people. It seems like the folks get all excited when the Yankees or Red Sox come to town because they know more people will be in the building.

One problem is that this is not a downtown ballpark. It's a 15 or 20-minute ride outside downtown Kansas City on I-70. It would be better if this stadium was located downtown, but as we know -- sometimes putting things downtown are easier said than done.

The Phillies don't play downtown either, and yet they flourish. It comes down to winning. The Royals haven't had a winning season since 2003 and most years they have been at least 20 games under .500. Their record is worse than the Pirates. And before 2003, their last previous winning season was the strike-shortened year of 1994.

Better times are coming, supposedly. Sports Illustrated even said so in a feature story a few months ago. The Royals have a young, solid nucleus. If they can stay together, they can be pretty good. The big news out here is the signing of No. 1 draft pick Bubba Starling, who was introduced at the game tonight.

So, maybe in two or three years when the Royals are back in the playoffs, we can say that we were here to see the seeds of success planted.

But right now, success is elusive, although Kansas City did salvage the third game of this three-game series with the Yankees despite shaky pitching.

The stadium? Well, it reminds me a lot of a Triple-A ballpark in the sense that there's a lot of stuff going on for the kids to do ... a carousel, miniature golf, batting cages, a mini-field where kids can hit and run ... all kinds of stuff.

I realize that the people who sell out Citizens Bank Park every night don't need the frills.

They don't need concerts like the one they had before tonight's game with a local band (see below). Philadelphia has a World Series-contending baseball team to watch.

Kansas City doesn't. Not even close. So they try their best to get people out and keep them interested with a lot of bells, whistles and fountains.

Oh, those fountains. I was transfixed by them. I think I drove my son a little nuts by continually talking about the fountains. Maybe it's because I am a Pisces, but I am drawn to water.

The fountains here were added to the ballpark at the insistence of Ewing Kauffman's wife. The ballpark was paid by the public through a bond issue, but Ewing put $3.1 million of his own money into those fountains.

I hate to admit it, but I loved them. They set this ballpark apart from any other.

My wife didn't come on this trip, but she would have loved them, too.

While I go to Vegas to bet on football games and see some elaborate shows, she goes to see the fountains at Bellagio. These were not nearly as impressive as the ones at Bellagio, but they certainly make this a pretty place.

We were treated to an excellent tour at Kauffman this morning, followed by another tour across the parking lot at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Chiefs. More on the Arrowhead tour in an upcoming post.

But what comes through everything out here is the general kindness and politness of the people. There's a general cherriness about them. They can't do enough for you. They're eager to please. I just don't sense that edginess, nastiness, that get-in-my-way-and-I'll-run-you-over mentality that we have back home and throughout the east.

I am sure not everyone is pleasant or easy-going, but there's a down-to-earth quality about these folks that I like. And along with images of this beautiful ballpark, it's the goodness of the people that I will take away from my first visit -- but hopefully not last -- to this city in the midle of the country.

Here are a few more pictures from our three nights in Kansas City at what I consider to be one of the underrated gems in American sports:

Tim Crockett, who ran the recent adult basketball tournament at Cedar Beach, is also a key member member of New Castle Entertainment. And New Castle is promoting Friday night's Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich country music concert at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown.

Tim sent me an e-mail saying that New Castle Entertainment will pay tribute to Officer Robert Lasso and his family at Friday night's concert.

His release:

Allentown, PA (August 17, 2011) New Castle Entertainment announced today that they will honor Officer Robert Lasso and his family at this Friday's Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich concert at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown.

Officer Lasso, who had served with the Freemansburg Borough Police Department for seven years, was fatally shot last Thursday while responding to a domestic call. Thousands attended his funeral on Tuesday to remember this local hero, husband and father of two young children.

New Castle's Managing Partner, Vi Tran, was driving home Thursday night and saw the street closure near the incident. The next morning she heard the news and wanted to help. The company started allotting 10 percent of the concert ticket sales to benefit Officer Lasso's family.

This week, New Castle also began offering firefighters and law enforcement a 10 percent discount on all tickets purchased. "It gives me great pleasure to help out Officer Lasso's family and to honor and remember a community hero," said Ms. Tran.

The discount that was originally meant for firefighters and law enforcement will be made available to the general public starting Thursday. Online customers that use the discount code, HONOR, when they buy tickets will save 10 percent and New Castle will also donate an additional 10 percent to the Robert Lasso Memorial Fund.

It is now late Tuesday night and we are back from a full day in Kansas City, and the darn song is still in my head. You know the one:

I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I comeI'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I comeThey got a crazy way of loving thereAnd I'm gonna get me some.

This was Day 6 of our "Ultimate Road Trip" with the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club and it's hard to believe we're already in the final days. Just one more day here before we start the trek back home.

I must say that this has been a terrific trip, seeing so many things and places I have never seen before. And the people on this trip are terrific. I could write a column about each one of them because they all have unique personalities and great stories to tell.

I know the Phillies fans may have different feelings about Yankee fans (and those feelings seem to be mutual), but this group we have from the Lehigh Valley has been a delight to be with, starting with fan club president Chuck Frantz and his wife Mary, who coordinate everything and have made sure everything has gone remarkably smoothly -- knock on wood.

And of course, everybody on this trip loves Paula and John Lahutsky, who are true troopers and two of the best people I know.

I am used to going places with just my family. But this week, the family has expanded to 38.

Usually when a group this large stays together for as long as this group has, some people tend to get on each other's nerves. I don't think that's the case here. These are genuinely nice folks.

As for Tuesday, we began bright and early as we have every day with a visit to the downtown area of KC for a stop at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and then a trip to the Crown Center shopping complex, which features a Hallmark Card Museum.

The Negro Baseball Museum did not allow pictures to be taken from inside, but I can tell you it is fascinating place to relive the history of the talented players who played in those Negro Leagues and their struggles to gain entrance into the Major Leagues.

I wonder how very different the major league record books would look had the MLB been integrated all along because there's no question that the overall quality of professional baseball would have been greatly enhanced had everyone been playing in one league from the very beginning. Would Babe Ruth have hit 714 home runs were he facing Satchell Paige and some of the Negro League pitching stars? I don't know.

There's absolutely no question that baseball, as a whole, got better after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.

From the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, it was on to to the shopping area and the Hallmark museum. It is a nice place, perhaps a notch or two above the Lehigh Valley Mall in terms of overall restaurant and store quality. If you're a kid in KC, this is the place you want to beg Mom and Dad to visit because the place has lots of toy and candy stores and lots of amusement areas.

And the Hallmark museum (see me at left making a new friend at Hallmark) was something different to see and everyone who visited got a special gift, which is a nice touch.

If you're ever here, it's worth a visit. You can see all you need to see in about 30-40 minutes.

Overall, I have to admit, my wife would have probably enjoyed the four hours spent at the shopping complex more than I did.

In fact, at one point my son and I had to get out of the mall -- if no other reason than for the health of my wallet -- and took a walk around a portion of the city.

One thing is clear after two days here and that's that Kansas City loves its fountains.

I have learned that it is called "The City of Fountains." I thought that title went to Paris.

Royals Stadium has beautiful fountains as I will post later, but so does the downtown area.

The very posh Western Crown Center Hotel, which is attached to the shopping center, features a waterfall in its lobby (see below).

For a city located almost smack dab in the middle of the country and is as far away from the ocean as you can be, it's clear they like their water.

Look, this is not the most exciting place in the world.

But much like St. Louis, it's got its own laid-back charm about it.

There's nothing intimidating about any of these Midwestern cities. You can figure out where you want to go and you can get there in a real short amount of time.

If you're into glitz, glamour and bright lights, don't come out this way.

I certainly didn't see everything there is to see here in one day, and I certainly don't pretend to be an expert, but I thought it was a nice place.

The sports complex is a good 7-8 miles away to the east right off Interstate 70 and I believe the Royals would draw better if they were in a downtown ballpark much like St. Louis, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit and so many other cities have.

The Royals do not draw well -- just 24,000 or so on Monday night and 22,000 on Tuesday -- and these are some of the biggest crowds they will have all year with the Yankees in town. If you took the Yankee fans away, they'd have drawn 10 or 11,000 the past two nights.

Let's just say good seats are available when the A's, Blue Jays and Mariners come to town.

Like the city of Kansas City itself, the Royals' Kauffman Stadium offers plenty of down-home, old-fashioned charm.

And some great food, too. Besides the fountains, they love their barbeque here and will put turkey, pork, beef and chicken barbeque on just about everything to add some spice.

Some of the Yankee fans sent me pictures of what they were eating at the ballpark tonight. See below:

More on the two sports facilities here in Kansas City tomorrow because we tour both Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums before we close out the three-game series here between the Yankees and Royals on Wednesday night.

That's the case when it comes to the late release of the 2011 all-state girls softball team.

The all-state teams were formed by a panel of statewide coaches and media members and sponsored by the Pennsylvania Softball Coaches Association.

***Note that I nominated members of The Morning Call's all-area first team for consideration, especially co-players of the year Sara Rasley, Cory Ozanne and Joelle Morey, but did not participate in the final selections.

It doesn't flow as nice as Tony Bennett's classic song about San Francisco, but that's how I am feeling right now.

The "Ultimate Road Trip" Tour has arrived in Kansas City now after about a four-hour bus ride through Missouri on Monday afternoon. The ride was gloomy and a little boring because I-70 -- like seemingly all of the midwest -- is surrounded by farmland.

Just imagine driving from the Fogelsville exit on I-78 to the Grantville exit. That's pretty much the same thing we saw mile after mile.

We stopped for lunch near Columbia, Mo., and I was able to pick up a Mizzou Tigers shirt.

When I think of Mizzou, I think of the great Beth Hudson Wogenrich, one of the finest co-workers I have ever had in my Morning Call career. She is now at the Reading Eagle and I don't get to see Beth that much, but she and I have many of the same rooting interests and I do pull for her Mizzou Tigers when possible.

The very nice people on this trip from the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club -- yes, even Northampton's Larry Takacs is nice when he's not on my case for being late -- finally saw their their favorite team tonight. And the Yankees won, 7-4.

But I had the pleasure of seeing my Cardinals play on Sunday night and witnessed history as Albert Pujols hit a 465-foot home run, the longest in the new Busch Stadium's history. And the Cards survived some shaky pitching for a 6-2 win.

Since I only get out here every decade or so, it's nice to see my favorite team win when I am here.

I am glad I got to see the Cards win and I am glad I got to see Pujols in a St. Louis uniform in his own park for one last time because it's doubtful that he will be back next year.

I don't know what the town will do if he leaves because every where you go in this baseball-crazed town, you see No. 5 shirts.

The Phillies have several stars. They could absorb a loss of Chase Utley or Jimmy Rollins or Ryan Howard, even Cole Hamels or Cliff Lee.

But Pujols is St. Louis baseball right now. The city and franchise will be devasted if he goes.

Before leaving the city on Monday morning, we went back to Busch Stadium for a tour.

Sadly, it wasn't as good as the one in Cincinnati in my opinion because it didn't include a visit to a Hall of Fame, which was outstanding in Cincy.

The Cardinals certainly have enough storied history for a Hall of Fame, but right now they don't have one, which I find ridiculous. They used to have one. I remember seeing it in 2000, but maybe it disappeared with the old Busch Stadium.

The ballpark tour was great, at least for me.

I had two major highlights.

No. 1 was that I got to sit in the same radio booth (see photo below). where KMOX 1120 radio broadcasts the Cardinals games. People may not understand the significance here, but I have been listening to Cardinals baseball since Curt Simmons (see him at left in photo from the 1964 team picture) pitched for them in 1964. Yes, I was only three, but my family (big Curt Simmons fans from his Coplay Legion days) would cram everybody into a car to listen to the games when he pitched and I still remember that. It led to me becoming a Cardinals fan.

Then later, as a kid, I'd listen to Cardinals games in my bedroom. Later in the night, KMOX came in crystal. In the days before satellite radio and fancy TV packages, it was the best way to know how the Cardinals were doing.

The other major highlight was getting to be in the Cardinals dugout (see photos)

where Tony La Russa paces during games, and later, standing at the podium where La Russa stands for his post-game press conferences. He seems to enjoy his exchanges with the press about as much as I like dentist visits and traffic jams on I-78 and Route 22.

La Russa is not my favorite Cardinals manager. Whitey Herzog is No. 1 in my book, and the shirt I am wearing in these shots actually has No. 24 and HERZOG on the back. Herzog could be crusty, too, but he was just a good 'ol country boy who managed with personality and more than a few cuss words or two. La Russa is a little too slick for my tastes, and I truly believe he over-manages, but he does win one world title in his time in St. Louis, so I can't complain.

I also got a piece of Busch Stadium sod, courtesy of Fan Club president Chuck Frantz who asked a groundskeeper for it. It was no big deal since they were tearing it up and replacing it while the Cardinals were on a road trip. Don't know if it will stay intact over the rest of the trip, but I will try. I appreciated the "real" grass.

Hey, on this trip I got high (helicopter ride) and got some grass (Busch Stadium sod) and never did anything illegal.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to be here and with my kind of people -- so to speak -- for two days.

I hope to come back again, and stay longer next time. Ditto for Cincinnati and Kansas City. Much more on the very favorable impression KC has made in a later post.

But for now, one last look at some of the images from our all-too-quick visit to the Gateway City, including some shots taken from our 15-minute helicopter ride over the city and boat ride down the Mississippi.

I have spent my entire life -- at least going back to when I first realized what sports actually were -- as a Cardinals and Rams fan.

I have stories for how both of those allegiances began, but that's not important now. People think I am from St. Louis, but it really has nothing to do with the city. I began rooting for the LA Rams when I was eight. They just happened to wind up in St. Louis after the football Cardinals bolted for Arizona.

At least it makes it easy for me to follow them because now I read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website almost every day -- after mcall.com of course -- to check on what's going on with both of my favorite teams.

But being here in St. Louis for these two days as "The Ultimate Road Trip" with the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club is a very different and cool experience for me. I have never been surrounded by other Cardinal and Ram fans before with the exception of my one previous trip here in 2000. It's like I have finally been reunited with long-lost family members.

Usually, I have to support my teams in relative silence and anonymity because I am usually surrounded by fans of the Philly and New York teams.

In either city, but especially Philly, it's better for your health not to root for the opposition.

Here, however, why not?

When in Rome, do as the Romans do ... so goes the old expression.

Not knowing when I will ever get here to see the Rams play again, I went all out and bought myself one of those Rams horn hats I used to see all the time when the Rams had "The Greatest Show on Turf."

I e-mailed my wife a photo of my new "look" and she replied chastising me for drinking too much. Had just one or two, dear -- honest.

I am sure my daughter Aimee would love these Horns for Halloween if she can't think of another outfit.

The people in the seats thought I looked great. I got a lot of hoots and hollers when I put them on. These Midwestern folks are so polite. Even when they see a guy who's truly an idiot, they don't call him one.

"You look great," one woman sitting next to me said sympathetically.

When she found out I lived in Pennsylvania, though, she seemed relieved. Somehow, I don't think she really meant it when she said: "Now, you come back now and see us again."

As for the game, my son and I had great seats -- just 11 rows from the field, right behind the Colts bench. As a former lineman, Chris got a closeup look at those big heefers on the Indy sideline and he loves to watch them do their thing.

Exhibition games are largely a waste of time in terms of relevance.

Sure, the Rams looked good, but the Colts didn't play Peyton, and so I am not sure what can be learned from the Rams 33-10 victory except that former Eagles like AJ Feeley, Al Harris and Quintin Mikell are still in the league and playing for Philly West here in St. Louis.

Sam Bradford is getting better and Cadillac Williams looked pretty good in his Rams debut.

Mikell had an interception and the Rams had three picks overall. Josh Brown kicked a 60-yard field goal. So, there was cause for optimism for a team that has struggled for a long, long time after those Super Bowl years.

Look, do I think the Eagles have anything to worry about on Sept. 11 when they come here for the season opener? No, I don't. Although the Rams have improved, I think the Eagles will put 28 or 31 points on the board.

But I think the Rams can be at least a little more competitive than they were when the Eagles absolutely destroyed them in Philly 38-3 in the 2008 season opener.

In hanging around St. Louis, there's no question this is a baseball town and it always will be. The Rams are still the butt of jokes. We took a helicopter ride on Sunday and the pilot said during a quick aerial tour of St. Louis: "Now look over there and you see the Edward Jones Dome where the Rams try to play football."

When the Rams come out of the tunnel to shooting flames and fireworks before the game (see photo at right), you sense it's manufactured emotion and drama and not the real kind you have in Philly or New York.

I don't even know if the Rams will stay here. There's talk of another move.

But my son and I had fun seeing something we don't often get to see --- an NFL game from about 11 rows from the field.

Here are some other photos from our night in the Edward Jones Dome and I will say that while the Rams probably don't have enough talent to be among the league's best, I think their cheerleaders do possess enough talent to match up with any other cheerleading squad in the league.

As we continued on the Ultimate Road Trip on Saturday, going from Louisville, we had about a four-hour bus ride through America's heartland to St. Louis and I do mean heartland. Nothing but lots of cornfields and farm land as we went through Indiana and Illinois until finally we saw that beautiful Gateway Arch beckoning us to St. Louis.

We made just one stop at a Wendy's in Haubstadt, Indiana, where I posed for a photo with my hero, the great John Lahutsky. If you've never heard his story, please go to this link http://www.johnlahutsky.com/. He has an incredible story and has overcome so much.

But the bottom line is that he is an absolutely terrific young man -- very smart. It has been a pleasure to get to know him better on this trip. He can hold a conversation with you about any topic, from the Yankees to the movies to politics. What a great future he has.

My goal while we're in St. Louis is to convert him to either a Rams or Cardinals fan. But it might be impossible. John is an Eagles fan and Yankees fan. That might seem like a weird combination, but John is not like anybody else I know. He's very versatile, very unique.

Talking with John made the four-hour trip from Louisville to St. Louis go by fairly fast.

We passed through some rough, stormy weather in Indiana and one of the storms we hit may have been the one that kicked up a fuss at the Indiana State Fair, dislodging a steel scaffolding and killed five people who were all set to attend the Sugarland concert. What a scary, horrible, and ultimately tragic deal that was. The tragedy, I have just heard, has closed the Indiana State Fair for a couple of days. What a shame.

We had a brief shower here in St. Louis, but by and large the weather was great here on Saturday and has been terrific throughout the trip so far.

It's always exciting for me to see the Arch. People on the bus started snapping pictures the minute it came into view. And, of course, I was one of them (see below right).

We hustled right to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery at the southern end of town. With all of the people wearing Cardinals and Rams shirts (mostly Cardinals), I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

But heaven for most of the members of the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club was the free beer that awaited them at the end of the tour, especially my friend Larry Takacs of Northampton. He's the one wearing the Yankee cap over my shoulder on the final photo below where I give a toast to being back in one of my favorite cities on the planet.

And when I say free beer, I do mean free. The entire tour, including the two complimentary glasses at the end of it, are free.

Below are a couple of pictures from the brewery tour, which is a must if you ever come here to the Gateway City:

I missed my radio show on Saturday morning and I trust that Roger Pence did a fantastic job in my absence as the "Ultimate Road Trip" with the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club reached day No. 3 and we covere five different states.

I have to admit, I didn't even give the show a passing thought. Too many things to see and do.

After a late night in Cincy, it was a short night of sleep (four hours for yours truly) and then it was time to get up, eat a little breakfast and hop back on the bus.

First it was south into Kentucky for about a two-hour ride to Louisville and the Louisville Slugger tour.

They have a nice exhibit area (see me with a reasonable facsimile of Babe Ruth in photo below) to see before the tour.

In that exhibit area, they have interesting displays, including one that shows you the bats of every player in the starting lineup for last year's World Series teams, the Giants and Rangers.

The tour had a very distinctive smell -- the smell of wood being cut, trimmed and treated.

What I liked about the tour is that they showed you how the bats were made in quick, concise fashion and you were allowed to get up and close to each station. There were video screens for more emphasis.

The bats were passed around so you could see what was happening. However, no photography was allowed in that part of the tour.

Once they show you how the big bats are made, they give you a free miniature bat on the way out.

Funny how when they give you a miniature bat, you start acting like a big kid and you pretend it's a big bat.

I know I immediately went into my Lou Brock imitation and got to pose in front of a large picture of the Cardinals' Hall of Famer upon receiving my bat. See that photo, below left.

It's a pretty neat souvenir for free, although you are still very tempted to spend more money in the gift shop.

I know I spent more than my share after a 10-minute visit.

Louisville looked like a nice little town, although I really didn't get to see any of it. There was some talk of us stopping by Churchill Downs, the most famous venue in horse racing, but I frankly didn't even see a sign for it.

We did pass the ballpark where the Louisville Bats -- the Reds' Triple-A team and one of our IronPigs International League rivals -- play their home games. I think the IronPIgs are coming to town soon..

It looked like a nice place from the road. Of course, it can't be as nice as our very own Coca-Cola Park, but it looked like a shiny, relatively new place, which I believe it is.

Downtown Louisville was fairly empty on this sunny Saturday. I would have liked to check it out a little more, but our busy schedule didn't allow for it.

On this trip, we're getting nice stops of each place, but I have already have a list going of things I may like to do again if I can ever pull off a return trip.

The gift shop was very impressive and you can order custom made bats with your own. If you don't have the time to wait for the bat to be made, you can get it shipped to your house.

I didn't do that, but I did buy a Louisville Slugger baby outfit for my first grandson, who is set to be born in October.

That kid isn't even here yet, and he's already been spoiled by his grandfather. At least I got his father's approval before I made the purchase.

From Louisville, it was back in the bus for a ride deep into the heartland, back across the Ohio River and into Indiana, Illinois and eventually one of my favorite places on earth, St. Louis, Missouri.

It's late Saturday night and I've just completed a very business Day 3 of the "Ultimate Road Trip" that took us through four states -- Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and finally to St. Louis, Missouri.

More on a frantic Saturday in the next post, but I wanted to wrap up our Friday in Cincinnati by saying that I was very impressed with the ballpark and the treatment that the Reds gave a group of Yankee fans from the Lehigh Valley, plus two guys named Groller.

I don't know what else Cincinnati has to offer, but I thought it was a very easy city to get in and out of and liked the area around the ballpark.

As stated during the previous post Great American Ballpark was another fan-friendly venue, another ballpark that has helped to revitalize a sagging city. The Ohio River right next door to the ballpark adds to the stadium atmosphere.

On this night, we received a free T-shirt because it was baby parade night sponsored by Pampers.

In terms of the crowd, it was nothing like Philly. Only about 28,000 attended this game because no one is excited about the Padres and Reds are just about out of playoff contention.

In terms of ballpark food, I had a testy sausage sandwich, some popcorn, a beer, but did not have the stomach to try the famous Skyline Chili.

I was impressed that there was a convenience store -- like your local Wawa but on a smaller and more expensive scale -- right in the ballpark where you could buy fresh fruit, sodas, candy bars, aspirin etc. etc.

The game was a good one, by the way, with the Reds rallying on a Jay Bruce 3-run home run in the bottom of the eighth for a 5-3 victory over the no-name Padres. That result would normally upset me, but the Cardinals still have a decent lead on the Reds. It's Milwaukee that's the problem.

And when the game was over, we were treated to about a 20-minute fireworks display that was timed with the music of Disney. Dylan and Cole Sprouse of the Disney Channel's "Suite Life" were the special guests.

Here are some final shots from a Friday night in Cincinnati, and by the way that's Freedom High graduate and Bethlehem Township resident Johnny Lahutsky (below right) getting to say "Play Ball" on the giant scoreboard. Lahutsky, you'll remember was recently honored by the Yankees during their "Hope Week" celebration and has been featured by NBC's "Dateline" and "The Today Show" as well as the YES Network.

Our day Friday in Cincinnati was so good, I had to split it into multiple posts.

After the Reds Hall of Fame tour, it was on to another tour of the Great American Ballpark, the Reds sparkling new home since 2003.

I thought the place was outstanding ... right up there with Citizens Bank Park, PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Camden Yards in Baltimore, which probably rank as the top three ballparks I have been in.

I love the area near the main gate which is like a courtyard paying tribute to how we all grew up -- playing games in our backyard. See the statue in this area above. The guy being depicted is the great Ted Kluszewski.

The tour included stops in the pressbox, clubhouse area and dugout.

As a sports writer who gets to join in on the Phillies beat every now and then, being in a major league pressbox and dugout isn't quite the thrill it is for others, including my son. But it was fun to see the reaction of everybody else on the tour.

The pressbox (below) seemed comfy. Not as large as the one in Philly, but it probably doesn't need to be considering Cincy is a one-newspaper town and doesn't have the suburban media that Philly has.

The view from the box was nice, although our view for the game later was even more spectacular.

My son saw white bating gloves in Joey Votto's box in the dugout and we thought about it pocketing them, but since Votto is on my fantasy team I did not want to do a thing that might take him off his game.

We also saw Mat Latos of the Padres come out into the dugout, but he had no interest in the passing tour group.

Here are more pics from the ballpark tour, which joined with the Hall of Fame tour, made for a wonderful daytime visit to Cincy.

As a Cardinals fan I am supposed to hate the Reds. It's one of the best rivalries in baseball at the moment and that brawl they had last year was one of the worst in recent MLB history.

But visiting Cincinnati on Friday, my first time ever in the Queen City, I gotta say -- What a great place!

Day 2 of my "Ultimate Road Trip" with my son Chris and the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club saw us leave Columbus at 9 a.m. after a hearty breakfast at our Marriott Courtyard and go directly to Cincinnati, about a 2-hour ride.

We were blessed with perfect August weather -- sunny, but not too hot.

The perfect weather set the stage for a near-perfect day.

As we were approaching Cincy, passing the famous Kings Island amusement park along the way, my thoughts turned to the late Larry O'Rourke, who attended nearby Dayton University and loved this city and loved his Reds and Bengals. In fact, he was buried wearing a Reds jersey.

No wonder Larry O loved this place. It's easy to love.

We were first treated to a tour of the Reds Hall of Fame and immediately reminded that the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 were the first professional baseball team (see picture at left featuring a prominent member of that first team).

But this Hall of Fame had a little bit of everything, including some neat interactive stuff which allowed us to pitch like were on the mound and broadcast a favorite moment in Reds history and all kinds of neat things.

I tried to pitch -- and failed -- miserably (see the fat guy in green below). But I got to do a re-creation of Ken Griffey Jr.'s 500th career home run which was pretty cool, even if it came against the Cardinals on Father's Day about five or six years ago.

The Hall of Fame presently has a great Johnny Bench exhibit that salutes the best catcher that I've ever seen.

Bench famously once held seven baseballs in his rather large hand. The Hall of Fame gives visitors a chance to hold as many baseballs as they can and my son, Chris, who has much larger hands than me, gave it a try. The best he could do (below) was three.

This Hall of Fame was not quite Cooperstown, but for one team, it was very impressive and the tour we took lasted nearly two hours.

The Yankee Fan Club has done a lot of tours and the consensus is that it's the best stadium Hall of Fame they've ever been on.

One of the more impressive sites was a wall filled with baseballs, one for each of the 4,256 hits that Pete Rose had in his career (See below).

Rose, by the way, is not just banned from the National Baseball Hall of Fame but also the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame because the Reds are obviously a part of baseball -- and like it or not, Rose is banned from baseball.

I thought a lot about Rose and the Big Red Machine as I visited the Reds Hall of Fame and thought back to those memorable World Series of my youth, especially the 1970 World Series between the Reds and Orioles when Brooks Robinson was so spectacular, and the 1972 Series when the Oakland A's shocked the Reds.

And how could anyone ever forget the 1975 World Series between the Reds and the Red Sox. The one best remembered for Carlton Fisk's home run in Game 6, even though the Reds won Game 7.

My Yankee friends didn't want to hear a thing about the 1976 World Series, which, of course, didn't go so well for the Yanks.

Our Lehigh Valley Yankee fans, and they are indeed passionate about their team, really seemed to appreciate the Cincy hospitality.

If you love baseball, and I do, the Reds and their rich history made this a special visit.

If you ever get to Cincinnati and you love baseball history, spend the extra time to tour the Reds Hall of Fame which is adjacent to the Great American Ballpark.

And as if the tour wasn't terrific enough, the Reds were kind enough to give everybody in our tour ---- and I am told we officially have 39 (including the bus driver) ---- a Johnny Bench bobblehead.

I haven't seen it yet, but just the fact that they were giving us something for visiting impressed the heck out of me.

Nine days. Five hotels. Five states. Five major league games. An NFL exhibition game.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Negro Hall of Fame. Four stadium tours. And much more.

Before dawn on Thursday morning, my son Chris, the fireman, and me boarded a bus for something we've been waiting at least a year for -- a huge sports-themed trip with the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club.

On Monday I will miss the start of high school football practice for the first time in a long time and everything else going on back in the Valley, but I am eager to see some sports venues I have never seen before.

The end destination is Kansas City where the Yankees will play Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but don't tell the rest of the 40-some people with me -- my personal highlight will be returning to St. Louis for the first time since 2000 on Saturday and Sunday where I will see my two favorite teams in action on their home turf -- the Rams on Saturday night and the Cardinals on Sunday night.

I am going to chronicle the trip here on Groller's Corner for the next week. One of the things I have always done since this blog began about five years ago is let people know what's going on with my life.

And this is what's going on this week.

Maybe you'll be interested, maybe you're not. If you're not, obviously, there are plenty of other good things on mcall.com to read.

But I wanted to document what may be one of the most special trips I've ever been on. I will share my thoughts and some photos as we travel into the Midwest and see what part of America's heartland is all about.

Day 1:

We left the Trans Bridge Terminal in Bethlehem at 5 a.m. Saw a beautiful sunrise as we headed north on the turnpike and then west on Route 80.

Stopped at a Cracker Barrel at the Buckhorn exit on Route 80 (see photo below). You could tell we were near Penn State because of all of the Nittany Lion stuff mixed with all of the country music CDs, clothing, toys and Halloween and Christmas decorations. Glad my wife wasn't along or it could have been costly.

Stuffed myself with some great-tasting pancakes and then it was back on the bus and westward bound into Ohio.

I haven't been at the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 1971 when I was just 10. So, I barely could remember anything I saw 40 years ago.

For Chris, who played and coached high school football and who is a huge NFL fan, this visit may have been the highlight of the entire trip.

He is on the left in the photo below.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame isn't as large or as impressive as Cooperstown, but I still got a kick out of the place, especially the section devoted to the Super Bowl.

The Hall of Fame gallery features all of the busts and some really look like the guys they're supposed to look like and some -- quite frankly -- aren't even close to looking like the real guys. Dan Marino for one. OJ Simpson wasn't a real close likeness either, although that one still seemed to get a lot of attention for the wrong reasons.

I checked out Deion Sanders' newly-placed bust (photo below) and the do-rag that Deion placed on his fake head at his emotional ceremony on Saturday night was no longer there. The Hall has to have some standards.

Thank God Chuck Bednarik's bust (also seen below) is not near Deion's bust. Concrete Charlie's feelings about Primetime are well known and they are not positive.

They told us there would be a $26 million renovation and expansion coming soon and that will certainly make this a much more impressive place. It's not bad now, but you sense they could do a lot more.

I plan to come back to the Hall of Fame again, maybe for Andre Reed's induction next year or in the near future.

This visit was a little too short because of the tight schedule. It was only two hours and I could have used three or four.

But that might have been a good thing in this case because I only had five minutes in the gift shop and there's a lot of great stuff on each team in there.

I have a bobblehead collection and found an Eagles bobblehead with their original (blue and yellow) uniform. Something different (see it below). So I will add to my collection.

From Canton, we headed southwest and stopped at an Amish-styled restaurant called the Das Dutch Kitchen in Dalton, Ohio. Some in the party described it as a mini-Shady Maple, a popular dining spot near Lancaster.

Like Cracker Barrel, it also had a gift shop in the area where you paid. I had a nice buffet that included turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and chicken. Capped it off with a piece of peanut butter cream pie that was kind of yellowish. It looked more like banana pie than peanut butter, but it tasted great.

Then it was back on the bus for another two-hour ride to a hotel in Columbus, Ohio.

Considering this is the last night without a sporting event until next Thursday, it was good just to relax, watch some TV and get to sleep early.

Legendary UCLA star and Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton will be the keynote speaker for this year's Thanksgiving Benefit and Awards Luncheon at the Holiday Inn and Conference Center in Fogelsville.

It's the day before Thanksgving on Nov. 23.

This is the annual event presented by the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) and LifePath.

Walton follows in a great tradition of sports celebrity appearances at this festive event which have included Mike Schmidt, John Kruk, Dick Vermeil and Mike Ditka in recent years.

I have to admit that as a UCLA basketball fan Walton may be my favorite college player of all-time. I am sure he will be telling stories about those championship teams and the late, great John Wooden.

I was not as fond of him in 1977 when he led Portland to the NBA title over what was then my favorite pro basketball team, the 76ers, but I have always felt that had Walton stayed healthy he might have been the best center to ever play the game, at least the best not named Wilt.

Another of my favorite people, Joe Brake, the vice president and general manager of Coca-Cola of the Lehigh Valley, will be honored at the same event as the LV-PICPA Community Service Award winner in recognition of his contributions to our community.

It's less than a week since Doc Mattioli has resigned from all involvement with decisions at Pocono and the changes are already coming.

Mattioli was a staunch believer that the NASCAR Sprint Cup series should always have 500-mile races at his Pocono track, even though drivers, racing teams, media -- and even many fans -- thought the races were too long.

But in announcing the 2012 schedule today, it was revealed that the two Pocono races have been trimmed from 500 to 400 miles.

That should reduce the snooze time when the cars basically bide their time and make for more interesting, competitive races.

"The 400 mile distance will make NASCAR racing at Pocono even more exciting,” said Raceway president and CEO , Brandon Igdalsky, who is now completely in charge after his grandfather, Dr. Joseph Mattioli, resigned last week. “Race strategies will change, fuel mileage calculations will be altered and I firmly believe that our fans will be treated to outstanding racing at the 400 mile distance.”

Instead of 200 laps around the 2.5-mile tri-oval, they will now go 160 laps.

"“NASCAR supports Pocono Raceway’s move to two 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in 2012,” stated Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Senior Vice President, Racing Operations . “We believe this will be a good transition for the fans and competitors. It will provide the teams with a new type of strategy and should make for even more exciting competition at a unique facility that has a long-standing history in our sport.”

The 500-mile races had often lasted in excess of four hours, and when extended by rain delays, which is often the case at Pocono, the day got too long for fans.

On Sunday, the Sprint Cup race began at 1 p.m. and with a two-hour rain delay didn't end until 6:30. When it ended, the grandstands were about half empty.

Just last year, he told NASCAR.com: "The Pocono races are entirely too long. It's an obvious, glaring issue with everyone that's there -- but it's like this huge, pink elephant that nobody wants to talk about. Maybe there was some kind of a guarantee or promise made in the deal years ago, and it's something they won't change. We'll see how it goes."

The deal he was talking about may have been with Dr. Mattioli and the France family years ago.

But Mattioli is no longer the lead voice at Pocono and NASCAR must do everything it can to reverse the trend of sagging TV ratings, attendance and general interest in the sport.

As was the case this year, next year's race dates at Pocono are eight weeks apart.

The first race will be held on June 10 and the Sprint Cup series will return on Aug. 5. Each Sprint Cup race will be accompanied by an ARCA race and the Camping World Truck Series will again have a race during the August weekend.

Congratulations to the Northern Yankees for winning their first Tri-County League championship.

Two key members of the Yankees, Adam Sandt and Rick Seltzer, will now set their sights on an amateur baseball sweep as the Blue Mountain League Championship Series resumes tonight at Egypt. Sandt and Seltzer also play for Starters Orioles, and very few people have played on two title teams in the same summer. Eric Schmitt did it for Martins Creek and Coplay a few years ago.

In case you didn't know, for the second time in three days, the BML had a game rained out on Monday night.

So, they'll try again to get in Game 2 at 5:45 tonight at Egypt Memorial Park.

Hellertown, going for its third consecutive championship, took the first game behind Notre Dame High and Lehigh University product Kyle Collina, 7-0, on Monday night.

Game 3 is scheduled for Thursday back at Hellertown with the fourth and fifth games, if needed, set for Saturday at Egypt and Sunday at Hellertown.

I tell people all the time that if someone passes away that you think I should know about it, please let me know.

I try to read the obit page every day, but sometimes I don't.

And right now, I feel very badly that I missed the passing of Ray Gregorek on July 23 and did not get to pay my respects to the family. Ray died at age 68 after a brief battle with cancer. I just learned about this from my former Morning Call colleague Ted Meixell at a Blue Mountain League game on Monday night.

In my business, you get to know a lot of people. Some when you see them in a restaurant, shopping mall or IronPigs game, you want to avoid. You put your head down, turn away, and hope they don't see you.

But that was never the case with Ray Gregorek. I looked forward to seeing him, and even sought him out if he didn't see me first. He was a true gem with a great personality.

I knew Ray best as the father of former Bethlehem Catholic and Lehigh standout Mike Gregorek. Another son, Brian, played for Lafayette and we got a lot of mileage from the intra-Gregorek rivalry over the years.

Here's a picture of the whole family at the 140th Lehigh-Lafayette game in 2004 at Fisher Stadium in Easton. Ray's wife Marilyn and daughter Allison are also in the photo (below):

Ray loved both schools and Bethlehem Catholic, even though he was a teacher and coach at Freedom for six years.

Ray was a proud member of the Becahi booster club and Lehigh's famous South Side Boosters who travel to all of the games, no matter where the Mountain Hawks are playing. Whether I bumped into him at Goodman Stadium or at Colgate or Holy Cross or on College Hill, Ray always made me smile.

I was very shocked and quite saddened when I heard about this on Monday and want to publicly express my deepest sympathies to the Gregorek family.

The upcoming Allentown Fair will feature its share of big acts at the end of the month, but perhaps the biggest star is coming to the Fairgrounds on Saturday Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

That's when Hulk Hogan and several of his professional wrestling buddies will be appearing in what figures to be a very different show at the Allentown Fairgrounds Agri-Plex. It's called the "Hulk Hogan and Friends" tour and it has evidently been well-received at stops throughout the country

These guys won't be wrestling; they will be talking. They will tell stories from their careers and personal lives.

"Everybody's laughing more than they have in years," Hogan said in a release.

With all that went on with Brad Keselowski's amazing Sprint Cup series win and the little feud that rekindled between Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch, we didn't get to report much on the ARCA race that also happened Sunday at Pocono Race.

Slatington's Kory Rabenold had a very solid 15th-place finish in the 41-car field and was one of 19 cars to finish all 50 laps of the Pennsylvania ARCA 125.

It was one place better than what Rabenold recorded in the June ARCA race at Pocono.

Rabenold, a 22-year-old Northern Lehigh graduate, survived a crash-filled race and beat out some big names in the sport, like Bobby Gerhart of Lebanon and Milka Duno, who has competed in the Indy 500.

Nick Igdalsky, who helps to run Pocono Raceway with his brother and sister, finished 19th.

Here is the release from Rabenold's team:

Long Pond, PA (August 7, 2011)- Kory Rabenold of Slatington, PA wheeled his family owned #03 Buzzy’s Auto Body Chevrolet to a 15th place effort Sunday in the Pennsylvania 125 at Pocono International Raceway. This marks the second start of the season for Rabenold in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards and he was definitely pleased with his team’s performance.

Rabenold started off his weekend by running the 22nd quickest lap in Menards Pole Qualifying, which assured him a starting spot in the show. It was a good start for the low buck team, as 45 drivers were registered to qualify.

The race was scheduled for Saturday but Mother Nature stole the show. Rabenold strapped into his car for the start of the 125-mile event on Sunday and things got hairy from the start.

“The race got going and there was a big wreck in front of me”, said Rabenold. “I drove through the smoke and almost got into it, but luckily we didn’t.”

Rabenold then cracked the top 20 and then picked up a few more spots, but the handle on his car was just a tick off.

“The car handled decent, but there was a pretty good push as the race went on”. Rabenold continued, “I just hung on and rode it out until the pit stops.”

Pit stops were key and Rabenold’s volunteer crew went to work during their stop.

“The team made adjustments to make the car more free and we took on some fuel”, he said. “Most of the guys got tires, but we took a gamble and it paid off for a little while with track position.”

Rabenold drove as far up as 11th before being passed by quicker cars. He sat just outside the top 20 with about twenty to go and then overtook several competitors in the closing laps to finish 15th. His respectable finish is his second best at Pocono, the same track where he earned a 12th place effort in his very first start in 2007.

Rabenold summed up his ARCA weekend by saying. “It was a good weekend for us. Knowing that we’re under funded and can’t tear up equipment, I had a decent qualifying run and we raced well. I’m just happy to have a good run for my team and sponsors and hopefully someone took notice to our run in our family operation and will give me an opportunity to do it some more.”

Teamwork and good people make up a great team and Rabenold is pleased to have the following supports on board this season: Buzzy's Auto Body, Dynamite Woodworking, Mama's Pizza of Slatington PA, Springhouse Eye Care, Ecco Communications, Brooksy's Beers & Barrels Drive Thru, Interstate Batteries of Allentown and Thomson’s Meat Market.

It's over here at Pocono and this was quite a story unfolding here today as Brad Keselowski won the 38th annual Good Sam RV Insurance 500. Keselowski held off Kyle Busch down the stretch for his second win of the season. Keselowski suffered a broken left ankle that had ballooned to the size of a softball earlier this week after he lost his brakes and crashed during a test session at Road Atlanta.

5:45 p.m.

After what was nearly a two-hour delay, they resumed here at Pocono about 20 minutes ago and just 45 laps remain. The Busch boys, Kurt and Kyle, are out front at the moment. Contenders like Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and pole-sitter Denny Hamlin are still within striking distance as is pole-sitter Joey Logano and June winner Jeff Gordon. Some are still worried about another storm, but if the window can stay open for another 30 minutes or so, we're going to make it all the way to 500 miles.

4:26 p.m.

It's not raining here at Pocono, but we're still not racing. We're now more than an hour into this rain-delay. Certainly Joey Logano would like NASCAR officials to call the race because it would give him the win. But it looks like they will continue the race at some point even with more rain in the forecast.

3:24 p.m.

The race is official, but we're in a rain delay here at Pocono. The race was stopped on the 124th lap with pole-sitter Joey Logano back in front. Jimmie Johnson was second, Denny Hamlin. Kyle Busch and Earnhardt, Jr., rounded out the top five.

As usual, it's been a largely uneventful race with the cars spread out except for the double-file restarts.

Logano, Hamlin and Kyle Busch -- all from Joe Gibbs Racing -- have had the best cars all day. If it's called, Logano would have his second career victory, but reports are that the rain will stop in time for them to resume.

However, it's going to awhile. The rain is coming down hard and it will take a long time to dry out this lengthy track.

2:45 p.m.

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch continue to battle for the lead. Busch went on front on lap 82, but now at lap-90 Hamlin back in front. Kurt Busch is third and Jimmie Johnson is quietly lurking in the fourth spot.

2:32 p.m.

Long way to go, but it looks like Denny Hamlin could be on his way to a fifth victory here at Pocono. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards are next, but Hamlin has looked like the guy to beat throughout the first half of this race. By the way, the weather radar is getting a little scary. Rain could be coming soon, but hopefully not until this becomes an official race with lap 101.

2:06 p.m.

We're one-fourth of the way through and at the 50-lap mark, Denny Hamlin, who loves it here, is out in front. Kurt Busch is second and Kyle Busch has recovered from his early spin and is up to third. Pole-sitter Joey Logano is fourth. Carl Edwards is fifth and Jimmie Johnson seventh.

1:30 p.m.

We’’ve had the first caution of the day, a three-lapper as Kyle Busch spun out coming off Turn 3. After three laps, they’re back to racing.

1:20 p.m.

Credit the staff and management here at Pocono Raceway and the NASCAR officials for getting things up, running and off on time today. Didn't think that was going to happen when I left here Saturday night and it was still raining hard for about the 7th consecutive hour. But everything, so far, has gone off without a hitch. The truck race (won by Kevin Harvick) and the ARCA race are completed and we're 10 laps into the featured attraction, the Good Sam RV Insurance 500.

There are still some threatening skies covering these mountains, but it looks like we're going to make it.

Kevin Harvick got what figures to be a long day of racing here at Pocono off and running by winning the second annual Good Sam RV Emergency Road Service 125 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Harvick (below right) held off his Sprint Cup series rival Kyle Busch in a green-white-checkered finish for his first victory of 2011, but his 10th victory in the Truck series.

The race began on Saturday but was stopped by rain after 17 laps. It resumed at 9 a.m. on Sunday, beginning what is being called "A Triple At the Tricky Triangle" with the ARCA race and Sprint Cup race scheuled to follow.

It is not raining at the moment, but rain is in the forecast and it's overcast here in Monroe County.

"I just hoped I wouldn't screw it up," Harvick said. "I just hoped the car wouldn't de-tune itself overnight. The truck has been really good since we unloaded it. Luckily, it was that fast that I didn't have to worry about managing fuel, although we had so many cautions that it really wouldn't have mattered."

Busch, who notched his ninth top-10 finish in 2011, said his truck was good, but in Harvick's league.

"It was certainly a good run for us, but we were somewhat off the No. 2 truck [Harvick]," Busch said. "He was stellar and far superior to anyone else both yesterday and today. We just tried to minimize our losses and come out of here with the best finish we could. Fortunately, we got back up there to second with the cautions bunching the field back up and getting us to where we could make some moves on the re-starts."

Busch said it was certainly "entertaining to run the trucks here." The race featured seven cautions for 2 laps.

Harvick said running 125 miles on the bumpy, well-worn track at least woke him up.

"I am much more awake now than if I hadn't run a race," he said. "It's one of the shortest races I've run in a long time and you have to get after it quick. You don't have a lot of chances to make things happen if you're off the pace.

"It never hurts to get out there and get into a rhythm and this is a rhythm-style race track. It never hurts to get in a vehicle beforehand, if you have the opportunity. Now, we'll change our suit, go to the driver's meeting and go back out there."

Freedom finished off an impressive summer basketball season on Friday night with a 44-39 win over Whitehall in the championship game of the Stellar Allentown Varsity Summer Basketball League at Cedar Beach.

Joe Lococo scored 16 points and Jarrod Dilts added eight for the Patriots, who also won the SportsFest tournament championship on July 17 and reached the semis of the Stellar tournament a week earlier before losing to Emmaus.

Freedom was a combined 15-2 in the Stellar/Allentown league regular season and playoff tournament.

The Patriots are coming off an 8-14 season overall, 5-9 in the Lehigh Valley Conference and are clearly one of several LVC teams who figure to be much better than they were in 2010-11.

"We've played well in the summer, but we've never won a championship before and that's why this team is different," said Freedom coach Joe Stellato. "This team is different because they can play in big games and win big games. In other years, we made it to the final four, but we couldn't win the big one. This team is a lot different."

Stellato said the difference is mental as well as physical.

"There's no question we're more talented than we've been," Stellato said. "But they have a sense of confidence about themselves. They know what they are capable of doing. They have bought into our system and what we wanted to do. Earlier in the summer, we weren't playing defense or playing the way we were capable. But all of a sudden, we got into the gym and started working on defense and it made a big difference."

Despite the defeat Whitehall, which handed Freedom one of its two league losses, also showed vast signs of improvement this summer, finishing 13-4 in league play.

The Zephs were 10-12 overall, 6-8 last season, but look like a team that could challenge for the LVC North title next season along with Parkland.

Nick Melosky and Scott Frey, two expected starters, were both away and didn't play in the finals.

"The last three games we started just one guy who started last year," Zephyrs coach Jeff Jones said. "Obviously, I'm pretty happy with what we did this summer. We worked out really, really hard for a 12-week segment in the weight room and with a jumping program. There's a couple of guys who made huge strides. Physically, we're much better. We're much stronger inside team now."

Jones said rising senior Chris Moran has been "unbelievable this summer ... he's going to surprise people next year."

Moran led all scorers with 18 points, but was limited to just one field goal in the first half when Freedom moved out to a 23-15 lead.

Saying that it was time for him to get “the hell out of here,” Dr. Joseph Mattioli on Friday resigned from all leadership positions at Pocono Raceway, the track he opened 40 years ago in Long Pond, Monroe County.

Mattioli, sitting in a wheelchair with his wife Dr. Rose Mattioli by his side, made the surprise announcement as Pocono welcomed another weekend of NASCAR racing.

The Camping World Truck Series will hold the Good Sam RV Emergency Services 125 on Saturday at Pocono followed by the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 on Sunday.

Mattioli said he will relinquish all authority to his three grandchildren.

His grandson Brandon Igdalsky is already in his fourth year as track president and will now serve as chief executive officer.

Brandon’s younger brother Nicholas will become chief operating officer and executive vice president. Their sister, Ashley, was named secretary/treasurer.

“I came up here about 50 years ago and bought a lot of land and of course what you see here now is Pocono Raceway,” Mattioli said. “The last 50 years went by damn fast. And today, it’s sort of special to us. My wife and I just felt it was time. So, as of today, I am resigning all of my positions here at Pocono Raceway. We’re going to take it a little easy.”

The 86-year-old Mattioli said he has had “a helluva good time,” but thought it was time to get out while “the getting was good.”

”Brandon is well-trained and knows this track like, as they say, the proverbial back of his hand,” Mattioli said. “He’s well prepared for all the things that have to be done.”

Mattioli choked back tears at several points during the announcement.

Pocono Raceway is one of the few family-owned tracks left in the country. Most of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races are held at tracks owned by the mammoth Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or International Speedway Corporation.

Mattioli said his decision just “evolved and evolved” in recent years and he realized that his grandchildren were capable of taking over.

“They’re all super kids,” he said. “It’s quite a compliment to them that we’re turning over something that has been in the family for a very long time.”

Mattioli has sparred with the media over the years and was never shy about expressing his opinion.

“I want to thank you all for the nice things you’ve said and even the bad things you’ve said and we’ve had a lot of both,” Mattioli said. “We’ve had a nice time working here.”

The first race was the Schaefer 500 on July 3, 1971, an IndyCar race won by Mark Donahue.

The first NASCAR race was won by the legendary Richard Petty in 1974.

IndyCar racing left the track after 1989, but NASCAR has hosted two races at Pocono every year since 1983.

Mattioli said his Pocono palace is in stark contast to his sparse beginnings.

“Rose and I both came from poor families," he said. "We started here with 48 dollars. The last time this place was valued it was $600 million, so I think we’ve made quite a jump. People kept coming after us and wanted to buy it and buy it for many years, but we always felt it was something special and so we put it in a trust so that no one could sell it. We wanted to leave it to our grandchildren. They are more than capable of taking over.”

Here at Pocono for another NASCAR weekend and I just had a nice, one-on-one sitdown interview with ESPN-ABC pit road reporter Dr. Jerry Punch.

I will feature him in the Sunday newspaper.

Punch is now almost exclusively on the auto racing scene. The NASCAR Sprint Cup season extends to nearly Thanksgiving, leaving him little time to jump over to any other sport.

But for many years he was a fixture on the sidelines at many of the biggest games in college football. Remember, Punch knows the sport. He was a walk-on quarterback for Lou Holtz at N.C. State.

Punch, who will turn 58 later this month, developed a great rapport with Joe Paterno over the years and had good things to say about college football's iconic coaching figure.

"As long as I've been alive Penn State has been a powerhouse in football," Punch said. "When I was at NC State, we played Penn State twice. And I can tell you there was no more class individual coming to and from a locker room than Joe Paterno.

"Every time I've been around JoePa, and I'd go up there to State College to have lunch with him at the Nittany Lion Inn, he has been a class individual. He's still sharp. His body may not be as strong as it once was, and he may look a little worn and teethered, and why wouldn't it after all he's been through in his career? But standing on the sidelines and listening him talk to his coaches, you realize he's much more alert than some 60-year-old head coaches I know in terms of what's going on.

"I just hope and pray the Penn State people appreciate all that he has been a part of and all that he has given. They have to be careful with how his final years are handled. We saw it with Lavelle Edwards at BYU and Tom Osborne at Nebraska and at a few other places. When they're gone, they're going to be very, very sorely missed on the field and in the win-loss column."

Punch said one of the highlights of his career was standing on the field in the pregame of the 2006 Orange Bowl when Penn State met Florida State and having a conversation with Paterno an Bobby Bowden.

"I was standing there with these two guys, two of the all-time greats in college football," Punch said. "And they are two of the nicest people. They were just exchanging pleasantries. They weren't talking about the game. They were talking about life and how they were feeling. I saw something really special. Something happened in the locker room at halftime and one coach spoke up on behalf of the other and it was really cool because of the respect factor. We asked Bobby about the [all-time win] race and Bobby said to me, 'Are you kidding me, Joe's the man.' "

Punch said Florida State definitely could have handled Bowden's departure better.

"Jimbo Fisher is a friend of mine and I am glad he got the job, but they definitely could have handled it better," Punch said. "I hope Penn State learns a lesson from that."

No. 1 seed Freedom, coming off its title in the SportsFest tournament when it beat Allen in the finals, defeated the Canaries again in the other semifinal. This time it was by a much closer 43-40 score.

Derike Chiclana, a rising junior, led the Pates with 13 points.

Combining the regular season with their two playoff victories, Freedom is 14-2 and Whitehall is 13-3.

John Hrebik was kind enough to send along the quarterfinal round scores from Cedar Beach tonight and now the final four is set in the Stellar Allentown Summer League.

We've got two terrific matchups on Thursday.

Allen will meet Freedom in a rematch of the SportsFest final and longtime rivals Parkland and Whitehall will square off in the other semi. Parkland beat Whitehall soundly in a Stellar tournament game a few weeks ago.

No matter what happens on Thursday, you've got to believe that Freedom, Whitehall and Parkland are all vastly improved from last year and Allen is not going to be as down as you'd think after graduating Jalen Cannon, Daquan Holiday, Branden Harrington and Robert Rodriguez.

Here are the details:

# 1 Freedom 39 # 8 Becahi 29

# 7 Allen 53 # 2 Emmaus 42

# 3 Whitehall 53 # 6 Northampton 39

# 4 Parkland 39 # 5 Liberty 31

Semifinal games will be played on Thursday, August 4th at Cedar.

The following are the match-ups and times:

6:15 PM # 3 Whitehall vs. # 4 Parkland

7:15 PM # 1 Freedom vs. # 7 Allen

Playoff Championship will be played on Friday, August 5th at 7:00 PM at Cedar.

I have just talked with James Brown, Jr., the new Allen football coach.

I expected to be talking with a young man with little experience, but Brown is 51 years old.

He played football at Liberty in the late 1970s and left school to join the Marine Corps. Later on, he went back to get his high school diploma, graduating from St. Louis School in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1982.

"I had my GED, but I wasn't satisfied with that," he said. "I wanted to go back and get a high school diploma."

He was all-Marine tailback nine years in a row and came back to play semi-pro football in the Lehigh Valley.

He became a semi-pro coach in the area for the Lehigh Valley Outlaws and served as the midget coach for the Bethlehem Steelers and Bethlehem Raiders.

He was a member of Joe Spitale's coaching staff at Southern Lehigh and also coached for two years with Kevin Ronalds before coming back to be join Cedric Lloyd's staff last year.

So, he has been around the area and knows the game.

He also knows he's in for a challenge, but he's up for it.

"I am up for the challenge," he said. "Coach Lloyd put a system in place, and I am not going to change it. I will put a couple of wrinkles to it, and the kids are excited about it. But we're not going to change that much. I'd like to carry on Coach Lloyd's legacy. I've heard a lot of good feedback from the kids about me taking over. They feel good about it and we're ready to go to work."

Brown said that he wasn't surprised Lloyd left Allen to return to Indianapolis.

"Even after losing his teaching position, his intention was to stay, but he got an offer back home and he accepted it," Brown said. "He had to do what's right for him and his family."

Brown, whose son James played for Liberty in the late 1990s, said one of his top goals is to keep kids interested in school.

"Education comes first," he said. "I had a coach destroy my college dreams when I was in high school and that's why I left school. I won't do that to kids. I want them to have dreams and work toward achieving them."

Brown, who is an assistant highway maintenance manager for PennDOT in Bucks County, said that he will have a full coaching staff and said Allen will move forward without four transfers who left the program.

"To me, they left because they didn't want to work hard," he said. "I understand that they think they're better off going to a winning program, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side."

Make it five coaches in six seasons for the beleaguered Allen High School football program.

When the Canaries offically begin practice for the 2011 season on Monday, Aug. 15, James Brown will be the team's head coach and not Cedric Lloyd.

That's because Lloyd resigned late last week and has returned to Indianapolis where he was a coach and teacher before coming to Allentown in January of 2010.

Lloyd went 1-9 in his one season in charge, but drew positive reviews for what he was trying to accomplish with the program.

However, back in early June, Lloyd was laid off from his teaching position, along with 264 others in the Allentown School District.

He said back on June 2 that he intended to stay and coach the Allen football team even without the teaching position.

"It's business," Lloyd told colleague Stephen Miller. "Whenever this part of the world attacks, everybody's got to know you're susceptible. I just look forward to doing the job I'm asked to do. At the end of the day, you're still contracted to do a job until that contract ends.

"We've worked hard in the offseason," he added. "I'll do what I have to do to take care of my family and things. We're looking at working this one through."

But Lloyd evidently had a change of heart and reportedly took a job back in Indianapolis where practice for the new season started on Monday.

Lloyd did not respond to a text message asking for confirmation of his departure and his cell phone is overloaded and not taking messages.

Several in the local sports community learned of Lloyd's departure in recent days, including Todd Schafer of Schaf's Video Productions, which videotapes almost all of the local teams.

"Coach Lloyd told me himself that he was leaving," Schafer said. "It's a shame because I think he did a lot of good things for that program and was a positive role-model for those kids."

However, the uncertainty of a teaching position along with the fact that several student-athletes transferred out of the Allen program to other schools, may have influenced Lloyd's decision to leave.

Dr. Russ Mayo, the deputy superintendent for the school district, confirmed Lloyd's resignation on Monday night and announced that Brown would be the interim head coach through the 2011 season.

Evidently, only Dr. Mayo was designated to speak on this matter on behalf of the school district, which finds itself in another difficult position.

Dr. Mayo didn't have complete information on Brown, who was a member of the coaching staff last season.

Allen has won just two games in the last four seasons after Kevin Ronalds resigned at the conclusion of the 2006 season. Andy Polony's team was winless in 2007, and Chris Kinane was 1-19 in 2008-09 with the one win coming over Dieruff in the 2009 season finale.

Allen was outscored 418-130 last season.

Dieruff's coach John McDowell was also laid off as a teacher in June, but hired by the district in another capacity. McDowell, who has yet to win a game in two seasons, is expected to be the Huskies head coach when practice begins in two weeks.

I was over at Eagles training camp this morning, checking out "The Dream Team" and had a nice conversation with Merrill Reese, the radio voice of the Eagles. As you can imagine, he's quite a talker, and a very likeable guy.

I will feature Merrill in my "Finetuning" column tomorrow, but wanted to share his comments on the recent passing of our dear friend, Larry O'Rourke:

"Everybody who knew Larry O'Rourke, loved Larry O'Rourke," Reese said. "There was never a kinder, more humble individual than Larry. Seeing what he went through [battling ALS] was such a heartbreak and at the same time, seeing the courage he displayed was just remarkable and inspiring. All of us had such great love and respect for Larry and those feelings will never diminish."